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Was Nekima Levy Armstrong visibly crying in anguish in a Department of Homeland Security photo of her arrest by the FBI for her role in a protest at a church in St. Paul, Minnesota? No, that's not true: The photo of Armstrong's arrest posted by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem showed Armstrong's face as composed and expressionless. About one half hour…

Does a viral video show NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte excitedly saying "I just got viral! Yaaay! Because my good friend Donald J. Trump, he re-posted, he re-tweeted a message from me ... " ? No, that's not true: The man in the video is Dutch comedian Remko Vrijdag. Vrijdag's Instagram account shows him playing numerous roles including, from time…

Did Travis Kelce, Jelly Roll, Bruce Springsteen, Caitlin Clark and a 12 other celebrities say that President Trump was "a vicious old bastard draining America's soul after the Born-in-America Act"? No, that's not true: The claim that at least 17 different sports stars and entertainers made that identical statement was made up by a Vietnamese-based spam factory that uses artificial…

Did Donald Trump tell Norway's Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, that he wants complete and total control of Greenland because he was not granted the Nobel Peace Prize? Yes, that's true: Some questioned if the text message from Trump to Norway's Prime Minister published on X by PBS correspondent Nick Schifrin was real. Norway's Prime Minister published a statement on…

Did a "Lucas Mamdani", brother to New York City's mayor, buy properties with U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders to financially benefit from new city policies on affordable housing? No, that's not true: Lead Stories did not find evidence to support the existence of any sibling of Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The claim originated from a page with a satire label that was…

Did Barbra Streisand, British politician Nigel Farage and Kevin Costner each say "Our country would be safer without Somali immigrants -- starting with Ilhan Omar!"? No, that's not true: Nearly identical stories featuring those and other famous people were published by a network of foreign websites and Facebook pages. There were no news articles about such an event and the…

Do viral posts tell a real-life story about a Connecticut woman named "Ada Morrison" who was committed to a psychiatric hospital for "excessive reading and intellectual pretensions unsuitable for woman"? No, that's not true: Lead Stories extensively researched available records but found no mention of the story outside of social media platforms. Those posts were illustrated by an AI-generated image.…

Does the 1986 Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act, "authored" by U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, make it legal to "blow drug boats out of the water"? No, that's not true: Lead Stories reviewed the text of the law, and it says nothing about an unrestricted use of lethal force. An expert in maritime law confirmed to Lead Stories that the Act…

Did Zohran Mamdani, Melania Trump, Sen. John Kennedy or other prominent Americans go live with a 3 a.m. emergency monologue claiming they were under threat for secrets they were about to expose about President Donald Trump or former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden? No, that's not true: Nearly identical stories mentioning those and other names were published by a…

Do these viral videos show real footage from flooded tents in Gaza? No, that's not true: While there were credible reports about December 2025 flooding in that region, some of the Gaza flood clips shared on social media were not real. The signs pointing to AI included strangely shaped hands, distorted faces and scene elements inconsistent with real natural disaster…